Chapter Forty-Four Cheeky Little Minx
Since Alex was named Chief of Security Operations, he began working closely with Tommy and, to Evie’s shock and dismay, they immediately hit it off.
She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much until Tommy’s birthday in February, when he told her he was planning a quiet get-together in the penthouse with just his closest friends.
He never said Alex could come, and she hadn’t asked, figuring if Tommy wanted him there, he would have told her to bring him.
Since she didn’t have plans with Alex that night, she never mentioned anything beyond the fact that she would be hanging out with Tommy and Nissa and that it might take her a little while to respond to texts.
It was a very small gathering: just Evie, Nissa, Thorn, Cole, Lana, Colton, and two couples Evie didn’t know very well but had met a few times before.
She was sitting in the living room with Colton on her lap, talking to Lana about how eager she was to come back to work, when hands covered her eyes, and Alex’s teasing voice asked, “Guess who?”
Her whole body tensed, her grip on Colton tightening slightly as she pulled him protectively to her chest. “Alex? What are you doing here?”
“Tommy invited me.” He uncovered her eyes and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “We’ll talk about why you never later,” he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. Her eyes flew to Tommy accusingly, but he was talking to Nissa and their friends and didn’t notice.
Alex squeezed her shoulders just a little too tightly before letting go and walking over to talk to Thorn and Cole. Evie forced a smile and turned her attention back to Lana, lowering her cheek to rest on Colton’s head as he snuggled into her.
“You okay?” Lana asked quietly.
“I didn’t know he was coming.” Evie shrugged, trying to play it off as nothing. “And I didn’t tell him why I was spending time with Tommy tonight, just that I was. He’s pissed I never invited him.”
“Ah.” Lana nodded. “So why didn’t you invite him?”
“Because I figured if Tommy wanted him here, he would have told me to bring him,” she explained quietly. “He didn’t, and rather than say that to Alex, I took the coward’s way out and didn’t mention anything.”
**********
The argument down in her apartment later that night had been short and to the point. Evie started by explaining why she hadn’t invited him, and when Alex asked why she hadn’t told him it was for Tommy’s birthday, she was honest.
“Because you would have insisted that I get you an invitation, and sometimes I want to spend time with my friends without you.” She stood up, pulled her hair out of the clip that was pinning it off her shoulders, and shook it loose.
“You know, like I let you do at least twice a month. You knew it was his birthday party. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? ”
“I wanted to see if you’d mention it!” he snapped.
“Well, that was pretty fucking manipulative of you.” She turned and walked down the hall toward the bedroom.
When he tried to follow her, still protesting, she turned and blocked his entry.
“Oh no. You can stay here tonight, but it’s the spare room or the couch.
I want to sleep alone.” She stepped back and closed the door behind her.
“What the hell, Evie!” He was practically growling, but Evie had had enough of his antics. When he pounded on the door, she walked over and wrenched it open, meeting his glare with one of her own. “One more word and I’ll have HELIX tell Thorn to come down and throw your ass onto the street.”
The minute she said “HELIX,” the AI responded. “Should I alert Thorn that you need him, Evie?”
She folded her arms and raised her eyebrow at Alex until he backed off, walking into the spare room without another word and slamming the door behind him. “No, it’s fine, thank you,” she muttered as she closed her bedroom door and locked it for good measure.
“Are you sure?” There was a faint hint of concern in the AI’s voice as she started to undress. “Mr. Turner appears to be somewhat intoxicated and belligerent. Perhaps Thorn should remove him.”
Evie smirked as the image of Thorn carrying Alex out of the apartment by his shirt collar and belt flashed through her mind. “As amusing as that would be, no, I’m fine, really. Just a little annoyed.”
**********
As her twenty-fifth birthday approached, Evie knocked on Tommy’s office door, trying to keep her anger at what Cole had let “slip” to her in the lunchroom from showing in her face and body language.
Apparently, despite Evie’s firm reiterations that she didn’t want to celebrate her birthday, there was a surprise party planned for Friday night.
Evie knew her temper had been dangerously short lately, but she couldn’t help it.
Between Alex and Tommy’s growing bromance, which meant Alex was now invited to everything, and Thorn’s girlfriend, who had taken up every spare moment he had since they started dating in January, to the point that she couldn’t remember the last time they’d hung out just the two of them, or when she’d had more than a five-minute conversation with him, she was either annoyed or sad practically all the time.
The only time she felt normal was when she was with Cole, Lana, and Colton, and she didn’t want to insert herself into their lives any more than she already was.
Tommy’s cheerful “Come in!” set her teeth on edge, and she paused to count to ten before she opened the door. “Evie!” He smiled and stood up, shutting the lid of his laptop in what she was sure he thought was a subtle manner, as he came over to hug her. “What can I do for you?”
“I need the jet on Friday.” Evie had been about to tell him she knew about the party and that he needed to cancel it, but changed tactics at the last second, not wanting to get Cole in trouble for telling her.
“The jet for Friday?” Tommy froze, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. “Why?”
“Well, since everyone keeps telling me I’m being ridiculous for not celebrating my birthday anymore.
I booked a solo weekend getaway at a spa just outside Montreal.
” She walked over and dropped into the leather chair in front of his desk, throwing her leg over the arm as she smiled sweetly at him.
“Since you’ve been the most vocal, I figured you could let me have the jet for the weekend as a birthday gift. ”
Tommy narrowed his eyes and stared at her for a long minute; she could practically see his brain whirring to come up with an excuse for why she couldn’t take the private company jet he had purchased in April. “Why Montreal?”
Evie shrugged, studying her nails nonchalantly. “Far enough away that no one can bother me, close enough to drive to if I need to.”
She somehow managed to keep her face impassive as she dropped the bomb that she would drive if she had to. She had actually been considering inviting Nissa and Lana on a girls' weekend away and had looked into a few spa resorts, finding the one near Montreal completely by accident.
“Have you, ah, have you already booked this retreat?” Tommy asked, trying to be casual as he walked around the desk and sat down. “Because I’m not sure the Jet will be available, Thorn mentioned he might need it.”
“Oh yeah, three nights in the Luxury Castle with a beautiful view of Calumet Falls.” She nodded, watching him from under her lashes.
“Two full days of spa treatments, yoga and meditation sessions. It’s costing me a couple of grand and is non-refundable, but if I don’t get a break, I’m going to snap.
” She responded conversationally. “And honestly, the view alone is worth what I’m paying. ”
“Right,” Tommy nodded, his face paling slightly. “How many grand exactly?”
“Well, between the room and all the treatments and sessions I’ve booked, plus the fact that the Canadians are weird about how their taxes are added to things, just over five.”
“Five grand for three nights?” Tommy almost choked. “And it’s non-refundable?”
“Yep.” She pulled her leg off the arm of the couch and nodded to his phone.
“Could you check with Thorn and see if he needs the jet, please? Because I’m going to have to let Nissa know I need Friday off if I have to drive.
” She watched as his hand twitched toward his phone, and then he shook his head.
“Evie, I’m sorry you can’t go to Montreal this weekend.”
“I wasn’t aware that I needed your permission.” She somehow managed to respond evenly, despite the anger that was almost constantly simmering under the surface spiking dangerously.
“Look, give me the name of the spa, I’ll call and get your weekend switched to another one and pay whatever fees they tack on to do it, and I’ll make sure the jet is available for you, I promise, but this weekend doesn’t work.”
“Tommy, they’re booked solid for months.” Evie lied calmly; she had no idea if they were or not. “I was lucky and happened to call right after someone cancelled. That’s why I booked the luxury castle; there was nothing else available.
“Then I will give you the five grand to make up for it, and you can book somewhere else,” he snapped, his frustration finally pushing through. “But you are not going away this weekend, Alex and I have been working our asses off to plan a party for you, and you’re going.”
Evie pursed her lips and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that? Because I’m pretty sure you just said you and Alex were planning a party for me that I not only didn’t ask for, I specifically said I didn’t want!”
Tommy seemed to realize he was treading on thin ice because he immediately backed down.
“I know, Princess, I know. But we’ve both noticed you’re wound tighter than a coiled spring, and we thought this would be a nice way to get you to have a little fun.
I swear, every step of this has been planned with you in mind.
” he gave her a tentative smile. “Come on, you know I wouldn’t mess this up. ”
“Obviously, it wasn’t planned with me in mind, because if it were, you wouldn’t have worked your ass off to plan something I don’t want.
” She sat back in the chair and glared at him for a moment.
“It’s the Calumet Falls Spa and Retreat,” she smirked and stood up.
“Go ahead and see if you can change the weekend. Otherwise, you owe me fifty-three hundred dollars.” She walked out of his office, a darkly amused smile crossing her face as she went back to hers and got back to work on upgrading HELIX’s memory.
Tommy
When the door closed behind Evie, he let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. He wasn’t sure what was going on with her lately, but he was starting to think he shouldn’t change her spa weekend at all; she clearly needed it.
Opening his laptop, he searched for the spa's name and called their reservation line when it came up.
“Calumet Falls Spa and Retreat.” A voice that was trying just a little too hard to sound peaceful and soothing answered.
“Hi, this is Tommy Sloane. My sister booked herself a spa weekend, not realizing that we had a birthday party planned. I was wondering if there was another weekend available that we could potentially change it to, or even three nights during the week.”
“I can check upcoming availability for you and put a short hold on the dates for you, but she will have to call and confirm the switch.”
“No problem, but can we put any extra charges that might be caused by doing this on my card?”
“Certainly, sir.” There was a slight pause, and Tommy could hear the sound of nails clicking on keyboard keys. “Can I have the name of the person the booking is under?”
“Evelyn Stanley.” There was another pause, and then the voice spoke again, sounding confused.
Mr. Sloane, I’m afraid we don’t have an Evelyn Stanly here as a guest this weekend.”
“What?” Tommy frowned, a crease forming between his eyebrows as he pulled them down in confusion. “Try Evie Stanley.”
“No, sir. There’s no booking under Evelyn, Evie or Eve Stanley for this weekend, nor any other weekend in the near future.
Tommy looked up at the door Evie had walked out of, realizing she had made the whole thing up to get him to admit there was a party.
“Oh, well, I must have misheard the name of the spa. Thank you anyway.” He hung up and leaned back in his chair as he went back over his conversation with Evie.
He truly hadn’t realized what a little actress she’d become.
He hadn’t doubted her or her story for a second.
“Cheeky little minx.”